


they

by davidelizabeth



Category: Oxenfree
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 08:12:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11398596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davidelizabeth/pseuds/davidelizabeth
Summary: The world is dark, her sight is stolen by an unseen force. She is trapped beneath the waves, voices frantically yelling at her, to give in, to breath in, to let the water fill her lungs and drown her. Her body is not her own, her mind is not her own. Her sight returns, she is not underwater, there is a beach. She is on a beach. She does not remember how she got here. For some reason, this does not concern her





	they

The world is dark, her sight is stolen by an unseen force. She is trapped beneath the waves, voices frantically yelling at her, to give in, to breath in, to let the water fill her lungs and drown her. Her body is not her own, her mind is not her own. Her sight returns, she is not underwater, there is a beach. She is on a beach. She does not remember how she got here. For some reason, this does not concern her.

  
Her body starts to move, she feels out of place, like she is not in control. They snicker at her, telling her that of course, she isn’t in control why would she be. The girl does not remember this answer. Her body moves away from the beach, they swing her arms and use her voice, she does not know why this isn’t right.

  
Then, she sees herself. Alex, they call this, other her. Alex must be her name then. But why is there two of her? They sneer at her, and tell her why. She was not enough to save both herself and her friends, so they kept her, and set them free. Alex agrees with this for some reason. Her friends though? She does not have friends, she has no memories of these, so called friends. Only blank spaces that the voices scramble to fill with their shrieking and screaming.

  
Alex does not question them again. They use her body as a conduit, watching, hiding in the shadows letting her watch as the Other Alex and her friends are split up. Alex does not see why she needs to watch this, why she needs to know this, but the voices are insistent.

  
So she watches from the shadows as they take the red-haired girl the Other Alex called Clarissa. They do not use her as they use Clarissa. She is taken care of, they throw the other girl out of a window. Alex is glad they haven’t done that to her. The Other Alex tries to bargain with the voices, she fails and is killed. Her friends die too. Alex does not feel anything.

  
It happens, again, and again, and again. Every Alex who comes fails. Some make it off the island, some with the brother ‘Michael’ and some without. Another Alex always shows up soon after though, so she knows they have failed.

  
Alex ponders what lesson they are trying to teach her, they tell her to wait, that the climax is approaching. Alex does not understand what this means. She goes back to watching the Other Alex’s as they manipulate her body.

  
She quickly loses track of how many Alex’s she has seen. They continue coming to the island. Alex cannot escape, she does not see the need, why would she escape?

  
Then something changes. She has control over her body once more, but she does not remember how to use it. The voices whisper and prod at her, telling her how to walk, how to talk, and they teach her how to use her body again. They have more important things to do they say, you must watch by yourself they say. Alex continues watching, she knows how to stay hidden, and sees where they fail every time.

  
For the first time, in as long as Alex can remember, she is alone in her head. The voices do not talk to her, they do not interact. She is truly alone.

  
She continues watching as she was told.

  
Something changes again,

  
There is no Other Alex, only her friends arrive at the island. However, they look. Different. She cannot tell how they are different but their appearance strikes something long forgotten in her.

  
She quickly hides this fact and continues watching.

  
The way they move seems. Familiar to Alex, she is confused. The voices return and they tell her it’s time for the show to begin. Alex cannot move her own body, she is back to being a puppet. 

  
Her body exists the shadows, this is foreign to Alex, she does not understand this sensation. The people, they try to talk to her, but her voice is squashed far down, and only the voices can use her mouth. They speak falsities, she is not dead, only dormant.

  
They do not believe the voices, Alex is intrigued. The voices whisper to her that this is their final test, and then she may go free. If these, friends, can replicate what she did so long ago, they will free her, and continue their game else where. She finds this fair.

  
She watches quietly as they progress through the island, separated by the ghosts like all the other Alex’s and her friends. This time is different, they all have radios, and she is their Alex. This worries her, are the ghosts sure she is their Alex? She does not remember these people, in fact, she does not remember anything before the ghosts.

  
They reassure her, the loudest voice of them all being a lady, who assures Alex that she will remember when the time is right.

  
She watches. Jonas moves with determination in his steps and a fire in his eyes that sparks something in the back of her head. Clarissa the one who so often claims to hate her, strides with worry and pain in her eyes, and a deadly sneer on her face. This Ren is different, he looks, haunted, but rises to the occasion with a shift in his shoulders that Alex has never seen before. Nona grits her teeth as she is led into another loop, her posture that of a fighter set on revenge.

  
She watches, as they go through the puzzle so delicately set up by the voices. They dangle her like a prize, darting her in and out of vision to try and throw them off task for even just a little longer. They start to give Alex her memories back. A torrential flood of pain and suffering fills her head, threating to drown her in their influence as she begins to remember for the final time.

  
They show her Ren, with his fierce loyalty and dedication to help her through everything. They show her Clarissa as she smiles, and as she grieves and burns bridges. They show her Jonas as they bond during their only night together, the conversations they had, that one last hug before the shelter. They show her Nona, short memories from before, and the conversations during that night. They show her what happened, and what was and still is at stake.

  
They show her how she created a loop to save her friends, the loop that trapped her here, watching as Alex after Alex tried to save their friends. They tell her they are sorry. Alex forgives them. They show her that her friends are successful. Alex says goodbye as they retreat from her body and she drops to the floor.

  
Alex says hello when she opens her eyes and her friends are standing above her.


End file.
